Electric railway.



No- 639,860. Patented Dec. 26, i899. J. MCL. MURPHY.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY, (A-Wncmcn med Apr. 19, 1899.;

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A TTOHNE YJ mgm ' Nb. 639,860. atented Dec. 26, i899. J. MCL. MURPHY ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

! Application led Apr. 19, 1899.)

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Si (Q5/W" -E- I v l y u yIO UNITED STATES i i PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN MeLEoD MURPHY, or ToRRiNGToN,CONNECTICUT.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY;

sPEcrFrcArroN forming part of Letters Patent No. 639,860, vtime necemberee, 1899.

= Application filed Api-i119, 1899.

To a/ZZ whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I', JOHN MCLEOD'MURPHY, residing at Torrington, in the county of Litchfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and Vuseful Improvements in Roadway Structures for Electric-Railway Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in roadway structures for surface-contact railways, and vparticularly to means for supporting and insulating the sectional contacts for transmitting the current from themfeeder to the trolley.

Ileretofore inthe construction-ef surfacecontact Isystems having the sectional conductor composed of a series of contact buttons or plates each contact of necessity required to be vseparately mounted. and anchored. For this purpose a vault or other similar chamber has been provided to receive the contact plate or button and the operating switch mechan` ism therefor. This method of securing the surface contacts has been found to be veryexpensive and unsightly, for the reason that such construction is not of a lasting character, and particularly for the reason that danger of ground leakageand short-circuiting of the feeder-current is not sufficiently avoided or reduced to render the use of the sectional conductor, when arranged in such manner as above stated inplace when it is necessary that the conductor-sections be of short lengths, practicable and Without danger. In surfacecontact-railway systems having a third rail formed substantially in the nature of a continnous member said rail has been made fast by spiking in a manner similar to the securing of the tread-rails, the sections constituting the thirdrail beinginsulated from each other byspacing-blocks. l This method of mounting the third rail has also been found objectionable and unreliableon the score of expense and danger of short-circuiting.

My present invention, therefore, primarily seeks to provide a means for economically, expeditiously, and effectively constructing the conductor or third rail in a manner that will make it lasting under all conditions of traffic, that will reduce the danger of ground 'short-circuiting practically to m'l, and that will admit of securing the feeder-wire in close proximity to 'the third rail, whereby to make the connection'E between the switches, the

third rail, and the feeder-rail'the more stable and economical and whereby to provide for a more complete and sightlyconstruction of the third rail for use on block or concrete paved thoroughfares.- Another object of my invention is to provide a base construction to receive and secure the l third rail, whereby the said rail can be firmly held without the use of spikes, chairs, or other similar rail-tying means and in which the body of the rail will be held entirely embedded in a non-conducting material, which material also serves asa vbinder for holding the base members upon which the rail is supported as a fixed part of the complete railsupportingbed.

My invention com prehen'ds certain features of construction and'peculiar combination of parts, such as will be first described in detail and'then be specifically pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which-Q Figure l is a perspective view ofa portion of the roadway'structure for surface-contact electric-'railway systems constructed in accordance with-m y invention.v Fig. 2 is a view illustrating the manner of securing the third rail and feeder-wire in place. Fig. 3 is alongitudinal section taken practically on D the line 3 3 of Fig. 2, .and Fig. 4 illustrates a modified form of my'invention.

In its practical application myinvention is best adapted for use for securing in place al sectional third rail' disposed between the main tracks or contiguous thereto, and while my improvement is applicable for laying aseotional third rail for any surface-contact system having a continuous third rail as a part thereof, yet my improvement has beenespethe third rail X is preferably placed midway of the tread-rails YY, which rails Y are" mounted on the cross-ties l in the usual manner. Before filling the space between the tread-'rails Ibuild atrough 2 of common lum- I OC) ber and mount the sameupon the cross-ties l and make it fast or not to the said ties, as

desired. This trough extends the full ler `ot the road or the length of the third rail, and

ati-suitable intervals, preferably over Aeach cross-tie, a bed-block 3 of hard stone (bluesto'rie) s laid transversely of the trough 2, as clearly: ln'strated in Fig. S, said blocks formin gas-fun' ere,the base members upon which the rai l rail sections t are seated. After UIB il ciions have been properly seated upon Vthtfsione blocks 3 the base of the rail vlo is securely tied in position by a filling of cenient which is Vfilled in to or near the top of the trough; as clearly shown in Fig. 1. The fillingi is composed of cement possessing a 11i gli grade of insulating quality, and to facilitate the laying of the road-bed, and thereby materially reducing the cost ot construction, I employ a cement filling of a character capable of being freely poured into the troughl from suitable pouring vessels, as indicated in ,-F-i'g. 2. Sofar as described it will be mani- -;stly clear that the Iillingf as it sets ties the trough, the blocks 3, and the rail-base firmly to form a solid body, Vwhich when the roadway is complete is securely held from lateral movement by a ballast filling between it and the tread-rails, which may bein the nature of granite blocks, as 'shown in the dra\\'ings,.or a concrete tillingLas indicated in Fig. 2, it being understood thatin the most complete form of road-bedv the ties are also seatedin a concrete filling,las indicated in,

Fig. 1.

Ithave found from practical experience that when usin'g a cement capable, of being freely poured inte .the trough, while the `same will sufficiently','hafrden-y to form: aV stron g-and durable tying-base for therail, Lyetthe' same.

under a strong sun heat is adaptedjto'softcn slightly. To overcome the danger of sotterr 'ing 'of the-said Iilling 5, I prefer to provide a -supplemental lillinlf-of cement of such char'- acter as to positively' withstand any ordinary heat temperature.' Thisiilling (indicated by 6)'is of a plastic character and is of such nature as to set quickly, and therefore must be applied; and made ready by troweling. 'The filling 6, as will be seen by reference to lg. 1,' extends to a point abovethe; trough, and when the ballast is in the nature of blocks, as shown in Fig. 1, or concrete'illing, the said filling G iss'moothed off to an incline to form a proper wafer shed to keep 'the water -froin standing on .the contact-rail, it being also understood, that by lapping the trough 'scacco edges the said trough is somewhat protected thereby from the weather.

7 indicates the feeder-cable, which, as will be seen by reference to the drawings, is mf bedded within the filling 5 and carried within the trough 2.

At suitable points along the roadthe vaults 8 are provided, having removable caps 9,

From the foregoing, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,it is thought the advantages of my improvement in roadway structures will he readily understood.-

It will be observed that the third rail'can ,be made secure and laid quickly land the danger of short-circuiting reduced to the mini mum, as no part of the conductor-rail-during the entirelength of the road is'in direct contact with earth.

Having thus described my invention, what v I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. 'As an improvement in roadway strucsupport and binder, comprising a series of stone'bsseblocks; a holding-trough, and a plastic insulator filling material held Within the trough and engaging the blocksvandthe' rail and adapted to bind the rail and the restblocks, substantially as shown and for thel purposes described. v

i2. In a roadway structure of the character described, in combi nation with the cross-ties; a trough mounted thereon; a series of stone blocks held transversely on the bottom cf the said trough; a conductonrail supported on the poured into the trough when fresh, and the binder-filling G, all being arranged substan ti all y as shownl and for the purposes described.

JOHN ,MCLEOD MURPHY.

fitnessesz FRANK I. MURPHY; NELsoN T. Barton.

`tures for electricrailway systems; a third-rail vblocks; the plastic filling 5 capable of being V 

